Category: seed saving and sharing

This smattering of images from Saffron Thomas and Ian Stanley’s garden at Lisserlough near Boyle Co. Roscommon is your Sunday Treat. The open day was today and we the lucky ones visited last weekend when the weather was more clement. I met Saffron many years ago at one of the plant swaps in Knockvicar. Herself , Bridget Foy and Colette O’Neill were a trio of gardeners full of enthusiasm, Latin names and bore a kind of valiant stubbornness that wasn’t going to let the soil or the weather get in their way of having their cake and eating it. What a blast. I really needed to meet them. Although I am very happy to wax on about organics and growing vegetables, when I hear words like “Primula auricula” or the more elongated ” Acer palmatum “dissectum atropurpureum” I am right at home.

Iris siberica ‘ Silver edge’ growing at the edge of the pond

Lets take a closer look at this garden of trails and sculpture

We don’t luxuriate much in these parts . The soil needs a lot of work, fertility wise and texture-wise and you name it wise. In my case it’s a gritty clay topsoil albeit not much of it, above some sort of concrete daub, I’m not kidding. It is not like gardening in Wicklow and Dublin with it’s 2 foot of top soil, gardens like this take a lot of time, patience and effort to mature usually a pick too. And did I say determination? lots of that also. There is a word for a gardening technique I’m sure is never used around here. Its bastard trenching, not sure if the name is related to the process or has some other origin. In any case bastard trenching is not possible in West Cavan or anywhere around here, instead we go for the lazy bed. The lazy bit comes after . I will talk about that another time I think.

Fab cardoons

She told me the name of this one. ….

Feijoa Acca sellowiana

fab foxglove

Veronica I think

a nice wigelia and bee

Yes and we had a lovely lunch there too sitting on the terrace and Saffron insisted on us taking cuttings and seedlings, so generous. You can visit this garden in July 10th & 30 , August 21 and September 11. Call 0868691141.

By the way Saffron was one of the participants in my Art exhibition back there in 2014, fff . fabulous fecund female.

Heading over to the seed- swop in Knockvicar tomorrow. We prepared some of our own saved seed yesterday. The final clean of dill Tetra and coriander Piltro. You can see it growing in some of the older posts from Camcas tunnel. It grew to a height of 7 – 8 foot. Incredible. I couldn’t remember […]

“The myth of “free choice” begins with “free market” and “free trade”. When five transnational corporations control the seed market, it is not a free market, it is a cartel.” ― Vandana Shiva Advertisements